News for the New England Region

September 9, 2019 — The Vineyard Wind project is a major test of the offshore wind industry. The 84-turbine project is hailed as the first large utility-scale power source, after the five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm went on-line in December 2016.

As a pilot project, Block Island showed that the United States can profitably produce and deliver offshore wind energy, and create jobs. More than a dozen other proposals have followed, and new federal wind-lease areas are expected along the East Coast.

Vineyard Wind, with 800 megawatts of electric capacity, is presumed to clear the way for more than 10 gigawatts of power coming from the waters off southern New England.

September 6, 2019 — Award-winning Boston filmmaker and journalist David Schwab Abel’s documentary “Lobster War: The Fight Over the World’s Richest Fishing Grounds,” about the conflict between the United States and Canada over waters that both countries have claimed since the end of the Revolutionary War, will be shown at 7 p.m. on Tuesday Sept. 10, in the Moore Auditiorium on the Schoodic Institute campus. Admission is free.

Abel, who was part of The Boston Globe team covering the April 15, 2013, Boston Marathon bombing, covers fisheries and the environment for The Globe.

September 6, 2019 — The following was released by Lenfest Ocean Program:

Join the Lenfest Ocean Program on Wednesday, September 18 at 10:00 am EST/2:00 pm GMT for a webinar featuring Dr. Gavin Naylor of the University of Florida to discuss his project on thorny skate genomics in the North Atlantic.

Dr. Naylor and his team are using modern genomic tools to tease out the spatial population structure of thorny skates and to investigate factors that may have contributed to past changes in abundance. The findings could help managers determine the appropriate spatial scale for thorny skate management and lead to the development of effective conservation strategies across the North Atlantic. The project began in 2017.

September 5, 2019 — It’s not just that proposed federal rules intended to protect endangered right whales from entanglement with fishing gear will be expensive and difficult to implement, industry representatives say. It’s also that they won’t work.

That’s the argument Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, made in a letter sent to NOAA Fisheries on Friday.

The proposed rules came from a meeting in April of a federal stakeholder group, the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team, which includes McCarron and four other Maine lobster industry representatives. That Maine delegation is now withdrawing support from the “near-consensus” plan, McCarron wrote.

“The Agency’s current rulemaking does not address the full scope of known human causes of the decline in the species and will be insufficient to reverse the right whale population’s downward trend,” she wrote.

At the April meeting, McCarron notes, the full group recommended that NOAA Fisheries “revisit the Team’s recommendations if revisions to the model suggest … a distinctly different understanding of risk” to the whales.

To keep fisheries and fishery management successful in the Northeast, scientists provide information on about 60 fishery stocks in the form of stock assessments. Of these,14 groundfish stocks are under review this year.

There are two tracks for peer review – one for management and one for research. This ensures that the information needed for fishery management in a given year is available and that there is sufficient time to improve assessment science.

Management Assessments

The management assessment schedule is designed to provide set cycles for each stock. Some are assessed every year, some every two years, and so on. In a given year, the selected stocks are reviewed in the early summer or in the early fall. The timing aligns with the fishery management timelines for the various stocks.

This way, all stocks are assessed often enough to provide managers with what they need to develop good management measures and appropriate catch limits.

All of the assessments under review this week are management assessments. These are designed to be simple, quick, and more efficient than research assessments.

Using the new assessment process, an oversight panel met in June. They determined how much detail to include in each groundfish assessment and how much time to devote to review. Assessments for 10 of the 14 stocks will be further examined by the peer reviewers. Assessments for four will be reported directly to the New England Fishery Management Council.

September 5, 2019 — Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey today called on the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers (NEG/ECP) to immediately act to protect the North Atlantic right whale, a species on the brink of extinction.

In a letter sent today to NEG/ECP, AG Healey asks the coalition to issue a resolution committing to measures that significantly expand current right whale protections by further reducing the risk of collisions with ships and fishing gear entanglements – the two most significant threats to the survival of the species. The species is facing “conservation crisis,” with six North Atlantic right whales found dead in the month of June alone. Four had previously survived multiple gear entanglements. There are approximately 400 North Atlantic right whales remaining, and only about 95 are breeding females, making it one of the world’s most endangered mammals. Nearly 85 percent of right whales have been entangled at least once, and nearly 60 percent have been entangled twice or more. The climate crisis has also pushed the whales further north, exposing them to increased risks in waters with fewer protections.

“Only coordinated immediate action will save the North Atlantic right whales from extinction,” AG Healey said. “Massachusetts already has some of the strongest protections for right whales, but a real solution requires a regional approach to protect the species. That’s why I’m calling on the New England Governors and the Eastern Canadian Premiers to commit to protect these whales.”

September 5, 2019 — An organization that represents Maine’s lobster fishermen is pulling its support of a proposed plan to protect endangered whales.

The subject of North Atlantic right whale conservation has been a major source of contention for the lobster fishery in Maine, which supplies by far the most U.S. lobster. There are only about 400 of the whales, which are prone to entanglement in fishing gear.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association has taken a closer reading of the science behind the plan, which a federal team recommended in April, and believes it places too much of the onus on lobster fishermen, association executive director Patrice McCarron said.

September 5, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 78thAnnual Meeting will be held October 27-31, 2019 at the Wentworth by the Sea, 588 Wentworth Road, New Castle, New Hampshire. This memorandum contains meeting details, including the preliminary agenda.All of the business meetings scheduled during the week (with the exception of closed sessions) are open to the public, free of charge.However, if you plan to attend any of the Annual Meeting social events, please help us prepare for these events by registering early (see below for more details).

Please note the preliminary agenda is subject to change. Bulleted items represent the anticipated major issues to be discussed or acted upon at the meeting. The final agenda will include additional items and may revise the bulleted items provided in the Preliminary Agenda which follows.

Doug Grout, Ritchie White, and Dennis Abbott have been working with staff on the meeting details and are looking forward to welcoming you all to the island of New Castle, one of New Hampshire’s oldest settlements. New Castle, the only town in New Hampshire composed entirely of islands, covers approximately 500 acres and serves as a scenic residential and recreational community. New Castle was founded in 1623, chartered in 1679, and incorporated in 1693 during the reign of William and Mary. Today, in addition to a residential population of slightly more than 1,000, it is home to the Great Island Common recreational park, a UNH marine research laboratory, a Coast Guard station, and Fort Constitution and Fort Stark state parks.

ACCOMODATIONS: A block of rooms is being held at the Wentworth by the Sea.Please make your reservations by calling877.762.2876assoon as possible and identifyAtlantic States Marine Fisheries Commissionto obtain the negotiated room rate of $169.00 sgl/dbl plus tax. Hotel reservations must be made beforeSeptember 29, 2019. Room availability will not be guaranteed beyond this date.Please be aware that you must guarantee your room reservation with a major credit card or one night’s advance payment and you must notify the hotel of any cancellationprior to 72 hours before arrivalor you will be billed one night’s room plus tax.If you haveanyproblems regarding accommodations, please contact Cindy at703.842.0740orcrobertson@asmfc.org.

GETTING TO NEW CASTLE:New Castle is served by 3 major airports, Boston Logan International, Portland Jetport in Maine, and Boston-Manchester Regional in Manchester, New Hampshire. Each of the airports is approximately 50 miles from New Castle. Since participants will need to rent a car to get to New Castle, we encourage people to ride share, usinghttp://www.groupcarpool.com/t/sxzib0

REGISTRATION: The meeting registration fee is $200/per participant and $150/per spouse or guest if you register byOctober 18, 2019. AfterOctober 18thand in New Castle the fees will be $225 and $175, respectively. The registration fee covers the Monday night reception, the Tuesday night dinner, and the Wednesday Hart Award Luncheon, as well as event materials. Payment is not required until you arrive at the meeting; however, we ask that you please assist us in planning for the meeting by registering as soon as possible. You may register by submitting the attached registration form by email tolhartman@asmfc.org, fax(703.842.0741) or US mail to 1050 N. Highland Street, Suite 200A‐N, Arlington, VA 22201. Once you have registered, payment can be made in several ways (1) check, cash, or credit card at the ASMFC Registration Desk at the Annual Meeting; (2) credit card by calling Lisa Hartman at703.842.0744; or (3) mail a check to ASMFC (address above).

September 4, 2019 — On Friday, Aug. 30, the Maine Lobstermen’s Association officially withdrew its support from a federal proposal to reduce fishery impacts on the North Atlantic right whale biomass, citing NMFS data that shows the proposal would not be effective in reducing right whale mortality.

“NMFS own data show that that the lobster fishery is the least significant cause of right whale serious injury or mortality,” said Patrice McCarron, the association’s president, “while ship strikes, gillnets and the Canadian snow crab fishery pose much greater risks.”

September 4, 2019 — The Maine Lobstermen’s Association is withdrawing its support for a proposed right whale protection plan, claiming it was rushed into voting in favor of major fishing restrictions without adequate time to review the science behind the plan.

Upon review, the state’s largest lobstering trade group expressed its displeasure with the plan, saying it is based on error-prone data, untested science and documentation that is biased against the lobster industry.

The association says the government unfairly focuses federal right whale conservation efforts on Northeast lobstering without fully investigating and documenting other threats to the species and its habitat, from Canadian crab fishers and shipping vessels to seismic testing and offshore wind projects.